Up to 8 inches expected from coming storm

This image, take last week on Berthoud Pass, shows the area above Current Creek both before and after a large persistent slab avalanche was triggered in the area.

Sunday has been sunny and warm in eastern Grand County but do not let the seemingly spring like conditions fool you, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center has a special avalanche advisory for Grand County and most of the north central Rockies while the National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the area.

The special avalanche advisory is currently in effect for essentially all of Grand County to include the Never Summer Mountains, the Indian Peaks, the Williams Fork Mountains, the Front Range and the Gore Range. The avalanche advisory went into effect Sunday morning and will continue until 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The advisory from the CAIC stretches from the northern San Juans in southern Colorado all the way north to the Medicine Bow Range.

"You can trigger a large and dangers avalanche this weekend in the North San Juan zone and all Northern Mountain zones," reads the advisory. "There were multiple close calls on Saturday including a rider buried to his neck near Vail Pass. The risk of accidents remains high this weekend."

Officials from the CAIC noted that while the number of places potential avalanches could be triggered is slowly decreasing, "the avalanche you trigger will be big enough to kill you" according to the advisory.

The winter weather advisory from the National Weather Service – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is set to being at noon Monday and will go until 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. The winter weather advisory includes the Indian Peaks and northern Front Range as well as Berthoud Pass. Essentially all of Grand County is included in the winter weather advisory with forecasters predicting snow accumulation anywhere from four to eight inches.

"An upper level storm system and strong cold front will combine to bring snow to much of Colorado," reads the warning. "The snow will spread into the northern mountains late tonight and Monday morning, and then push northeast across the plains late tomorrow afternoon and night. The heaviest snow is expected to occur over the mountains Monday afternoon and evening."